As is known in the field of orthopedic surgery, and more specifically spinal surgery, orthopedic fasteners may be used for fixation or for the anchoring of orthopedic devices or implants to bone tissue. An exemplary use of orthopedic fasteners can include using the fasteners to fasten an orthopedic device or implant, such as a bone plate, a spinal rod, or a spinal spacer to a vertebral body for the treatment of a deformity or defect in a patient's spine. Focusing on the bone plate example, orthopedic fasteners can be secured to a number of vertebral bodies and a bone plate can then be connected to the vertebral bodies via the orthopedic fasteners to fuse a segment of the spine. Turning to the spinal spacer example, orthopedic fasteners can be used to fix the location of a spinal spacer once the spacer is implanted between adjacent vertebral bodies. In each of the examples, orthopedic fasteners are used in conjunction with the orthopedic implant to treat the affected area.
However, in some cases, where the size of the treatment area requires a smaller implant or the location of the area needed to be treated dictates reduced accessibility, the number and location of the fasteners may be limited. With a reduced number of fasteners, it is possible that the orthopedic device can become dislodged or disconnected from the area of treatment.
In addition, over time, it has been found that as a result of the forces placed upon the orthopedic device and fasteners resulting from the movement of the spine, the orthopedic fasteners can begin to “back out” from their installed position eventually resulting in the fasteners disconnecting from the device.
As such, there exists a need for an orthopedic fastener blocking system that allows for a desirable number of fasteners to be used with an orthopedic device regardless of the device size and accessibility where the fasteners are blocked to prevent the fasteners from “backing out” of their installed position.